System and method for densification of liquid oxygen

A system for production of a densified, liquid oxygen stream from a liquid oxygen stream, the system comprises:

• a first refrigeration stage configured to receive a first refrigerant and flow the first refrigerant through at least one first heat exchanger;
• and
• a second refrigeration stage configured to flow a second refrigerant through a second heat exchanger configured to cool the second refrigerant via indirect heat exchange with one or more streams of the first refrigerant and configured to flow the second refrigerant through a densification heat exchanger to subcool and densify the liquid oxygen stream via indirect heat exchange with the second refrigerant;
• wherein the first refrigeration stage further comprises:
• a first warm refrigeration circuit, a second cold refrigeration circuit, a residual refrigeration circuit, and one or more recycle circuits;
• wherein the first refrigerant flowing through the first heat exchanger is split into a first warm portion of the first refrigerant stream in the first warm refrigeration circuit, a second cold portion of the first refrigerant stream in the second cold refrigeration circuit, and a residual portion of the first refrigerant stream in the residual refrigeration circuit;
• a warm turbine configured to expand the first warm portion the first refrigerant stream to yield an intermediate pressure warm exhaust;
• a cold turbine configured to expand the second cold portion the first refrigerant stream to yield an intermediate pressure cold exhaust;
• an expansion valve for expanding the residual portion of the first refrigerant stream to yield an expanded residual stream;
• wherein the warm exhaust, the cold exhaust, and the expanded residual stream are recycled in the one or more recycle circuits to cool the first refrigerant stream;
• and
• one or more first refrigerant recycle compressors configured to compress the recycled warm exhaust, the recycled cold exhaust, and the recycled expanded residual stream.